Michael Douglas: I Regret Not Divorcing My First Wife Sooner

At age 68, Michael Douglas has only one regret in life: That he should have divorced his first wife, Diandra Luker, sooner.

“I know I’m going to get into trouble here. I have nothing against her and in fact I’m very fond of my first wife. But we should have ended that marriage eight or 10 years earlier," Douglas told the Mirror.

Douglas and Luker wed in 1977 and were married for 23 contentious years before divorcing in 2000. “It took me too long to realize that if you go to a marriage counselor to resolve problems, it’s in his interest to keep the marriage going," Douglas continued. “Because if I end the marriage he’s got no business. I think Diandra would probably say the same thing. That’s the only clear regret that I have.”

Douglas mulled over why he married Luker in the first place in a 2010 interview with Parade. “Why did I do it?” he said. “I really could not tell you. It was very impulsive. When I met Diandra, I was at Jimmy Carter’s inauguration with Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson," Douglas recounted. "And in this whirlwind we decided to get married. Maybe I wanted an anchor, a home."

The couple separated a few times over the course of their marriage, Douglas said. “Whether trying to deal with the marriage or with disillusionment in it, I wasn’t spending enough time on that." The divorce, when it finally occurred, cost Douglas $45 million.

Luckily, the two-time Oscar winner's love life has since taken a turn for the better. He married Catherine Zeta-Jones, 43, in 2000, and despite facing their share of hardship—he battled throat cancer and she underwent treatment for bipolar disorder—the two will celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary in November.

“Catherine is such a positive person,” Douglas said in 2010. “She’s worked hard since she was 15. She’s not a social animal. Oh, she likes glitz, but she doesn’t buy into it. She just loves getting dressed up and looking beautiful," he said. “Our upbringings, our living on the East Coast and having friends outside show business, make a big difference. Catherine’s optimistic by nature and has a great sense of humor. I love her."

Those feelings have only grown since that 2010 interview. “Love is an extraordinary feeling that comes from the bottom of your soul, but has to be nurtured, you know," Douglas told the Mirror. “The thing I’ve learned about getting older is you can’t take love for granted. You protect it, nurture it and it grows and after one’s initial, physical emotional aspects, it becomes deeper.”

In the new Mirror interview, Douglas opened up about another thorny topic: his incarcerated son with Luker, Cameron. In August 2009, Cameron was arrested for selling methamphetamine and is now in prison.

“He’s a great young man so I hope he gets it all together. He’s in prison and he’s going to be there for a while," Douglas said of his son, 34. “He knows what he’s done and takes full responsibility for it and I can see now it may be the best place for ­somebody to sort out the next chapter in his life. I’m there for him and supporting him.”

For his part, Douglas, who has undergone treatment for alcoholism himself, has often spoken of his imprisoned son with understanding. “Cameron is a really capable guy who conducted himself atrociously," Douglas told Parade in 2010. "In the last few years, he was strung out. I missed him ... My visiting him is very limited, but I know I have my son back. Cameron will be away for a long while. Hopefully, as he does his time and begins his rehab, we’ll have the best shot at his recovery. I assume responsibility to support him the best I can.”

Douglas has even taken his children with Zeta-Jones, daughter Carys, 10, and son Dylan, 13, to visit Cameron in federal prison. “Catherine and I always try to be completely honest with them,” he told Parade. “I’ve taken them to federal prison to visit Cameron. The last thing they need is to get this information from outside sources rather than experiencing it firsthand with a parent who can help them understand.”